


A Parting Gift

by josiahstick



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, Makoto Niijima Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-03 20:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12153975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/josiahstick/pseuds/josiahstick
Summary: Makoto reaches rank 10 with Akira, and Johanna speaks to her in a waking dream...Written forMakoto Niijima Week!Prompt for Day 7: Phantom Thief/Persona





	A Parting Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I'm very late to this party, ain't I?
> 
> I've been busy writing a much longer, much more ambitious fic about Makoto for Makoto Week. I probably would have written more, but... I kinda sorta had no good ideas until it started and I wasn't paying attention to the tumblr.
> 
> One of my fellow AO3/Persona fandom denizens, vivvav, has been real busy crackin' away at his RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME Makoto Week fics, illustrated by the brilliantly brilliant Hureno. FlOrangey and Circuit have been doing some great work as well, and, you should probably check 'em out if you haven't.
> 
> My much longer fic only sorta kinda fits in tomorrow's prompt, so... I thought I'd put up something more to form to balance stuff out. So I really quickly wrote this little thingaling. Enjoy!
> 
> oh, also, I tossed in a P3 reference. lemme know if you find it ;)

**8/10/2016 ☂ WeDNESDaY Evening ToRReNTiAL RAiN**  
**Days Until The Cleanse: 11 **  
**Stop Medjed's plan**  
**『Wait for Futaba to recover』**

Makoto was quite nervous to be alone in the attic with Akira… the attic _was_ effectively his bedroom, after all. And, despite how little she knew of love, she was certainly not blind to the significance of calling upon a gentleman in his room.

But this didn’t worry her too much. She trusted Akira not to try anything. He had helped her save Eiko, and demonstrated his trustworthiness quite effectively.

“It must have been difficult, babysitting the uptight Miss President, huh?”

“Uh…” It appeared that this question had stumped Akira. “Well… I-er no, it wasn’t _difficult_ , exactly, it was just that—”

Makoto lifted her hand and placed a finger upon his lips. “Just kidding. Don’t take everything so seriously!” She laughed jovially.

Akira looked somewhat embarrassed. “Sorry… I wasn’t sure if you were…”

“Even so,” Makoto continued, giggling and placing her arms back in her lap, “I’m glad I asked you. I think now I’ll be able to see the world even more differently. Actually… no, I _know_ I can, because— I have you, Akira.”

Akira smiled and nodded, raising his arm to touch Makoto’s face.

And then everything stopped.

* * *

**8/10/2016 ☂ WeDNESDaY Evening ToRReNTiAL RAiN**  
**Days Until The Cleanse: 11 **  
**Stop Medjed's plan**  
**『Wait for Futaba to recover』**

Akira heard a voice in his head. _Oh!_ It seemed his bond with Makoto had reached its climax. He looked at her lovingly as the air around them darkened, looking as if dream and reality had merged together.

 ** I am thou, thou art I... **  
**Thou hast turned a vow  into a blood oath.**

** Thy bond shall become the wings of  rebellion  and  break  the yoke of thy heart. **

** Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret of the Priestess, granting thee infinite power… **

**_CONFIDANT -_** **Makoto Niijima**  
**_ARCANA - Priestess - RANK UP!_ **  
**_RANK_ ★★★★★★★★★★ _10 M★X_**

Akira beamed at his girlfriend, as the mysterious childish voice rang through his mind…

* * *

_What?_ Makoto had experienced this sort of thing before— It seemed to be a strange side effect of her time with Akira, related to the powers within their hearts. But she’d never felt it happen quite like this. Something was different…

 ** _CONFIDANT -_** **Akira Kurusu**  
**_ARCANA -_** _**Fool -** ** RANK UP!**_  
**_RANK_ ★★★★★★★★★★ _10 M★X_**

And then, from within the deep void of her mind, a familiar blue feminine figure in the form of a motorcycle appeared.

“Johanna?” Makoto called out. “Johanna!”

 _“I’m so proud of you, my dear Makoto…”_ Johanna spoke in a rather motherly tone. _“With the help of the Fool, you’ve at last truly conquered your false self, and found your own path forward… and you’ve even found love. I never imagined you would come so far. You’ve far and beyond exceeded my expectations.”_

“Johanna…”

_“You’ve grown so much! In fact, you’ve even outgrown me...”_

“What? Johanna… what are you talking about?”

 _“It’s time for me to change, Makoto,”_ Johanna began to glow a bright, deep blue… the same blue Makoto had seen in her eyes, when she’d transformed in Kaneshiro’s Palace. _“But don’t worry— though I may leave you in this form, I will always be with you forever.”_

“You’re… you’re leaving?” Makoto gasped. “Johanna! You can’t… you can’t! I… I need you! I—”

 _“I know you’re going to miss your motorcycle,”_ Johanna laughed. _“But don’t worry. I’m not leaving permanently. I’m only transforming. Your power is only reawakening, and with my change, it will grow even greater…”_

“But I don’t want you to change!” Makoto shouted. “I want you to be my mask forever… Johanna!”

_“You know every mask has to come off eventually.”_

Makoto was quiet.

Johanna was right… after all, that was why the Phantom Thieves tore off their masks in battle with Shadows. Every mask had to come off, for the person beneath it to move forward. And of course— that was why Akira had so many masks of his own. Naturally, since he had so many Personas, he wasn’t attached to them like she had become to Johanna…

“I…” Makoto swallowed. “I understand. I’ll miss you, Johanna.”

 _“I’ll miss you too, Queen.”_ Johanna smiled, as she glowed ever so more brightly. _“By the way… you should really tell your new boyfriend about what's gone wrong with your sister.”_

Makoto looked up in shock. “What? How do you know about… about Sis’s Palace?”

 _“I’m a part of you, Makoto!”_ Johanna laughed again. _“Did you really think that it would escape my notice? You know full well that your older sister is distorted. Isn't that why you're doing all of this?"_

"Well-I-I," Makoto stammered, unsure what to say to this. "I think I could... maybe... it's..."

_ Do you really think you can just let that go? You’re going to have to confront her, soon enough, and help her own mask come off as well.” _

“But… but I’m scared…”

 _“I know, Makoto. Believe me, I know how you feel. You’ve been struggling with so much.”_ Johanna glowed a little brighter, as Makoto wept quietly, thinking of all that had happened…

_“But you can overcome all of it. I know you can, sweetie. So— please, tell Akira. You’ve forged an unbreakable bond with him, for goodness sake! You really ought to place your trust in him.”_

Makoto thought it over for a moment. Yes. She couldn’t run away from it… she needed to… to…

“Alright,” she promised. “I’ll tell him.”

 _“Good girl.”_ The blue light suddenly eclipsed Johanna, to the point that her face was no longer visible. _“One last thing before I change. I’m going to leave you with one parting gift. Please take good care of it. It will serve you well on your journey.”_

“What? A gift?” Makoto looked around curiously. “Where is it? _What_ is it?”

_“It’ll be quite clear when you see it,”_ Johanna promised. _“Goodbye now…”_

And then, the light faded softly, and Johanna disappeared. In her place was a tall, robot like figure with a red face…

 _“I am thou,”_ it called out to Makoto, _“thou art I…”_

Makoto looked up at the new Persona Johanna had become, and gave a soft, optimistic smile.

“Hello… _Anat.”_

And then, the blue light faded away, the world around her unfroze, and…

Akira smiled at Makoto gently.

“So…” he said, with a knowing look on his face, “you’ve learned a lot, huh?”

_Does he know about Johanna changing?_

Makoto beamed at him confidently. “Yeah… yeah, I have. I’ve become so much more than I ever thought I would… thanks to you.”

Akira winked and nodded. “Of course you have, my Queen.” He looked down at her palms, drawing Makoto’s eyes to—

There was some sort of card in her hand. It was of a blue color, and bore a small circular arrow symbol. It was quite like the cards that Akira sometimes picked up from defeated Shadows in the Metaverse…

“What’s this?”

“It looks like a skill card,” Akira noted, looking at it curiously. “Hmm, interesting. So you’ve got one of these too.”

“Um… should I give it to you?”

“No. I think it’s yours.” Akira took it and examined it carefully. “Yeah, it’s an **Evade Psy** skill card. Definitely meant for you.”

“What?” Makoto didn’t understand what he meant at all. “ **Evade Psy**? What’s that do?”

“Well, you know those weird pink and white rays that enemies sometimes zap us with? Psychokinetic attacks?”

Makoto realized what he meant. “Oh! Yes, I know. I have a lot of trouble with those.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Akira explained, “you’re weak to them. Come on, you’re our strategist! You should really know this stuff!”

Makoto’s faced turned red. “So… what do I…”

“Just keep it,” Akira assured her, handing the **Evade Psy** card back. “It’s yours. It’ll help you get stronger. I think it came from our bond, actually.”

“Our bond…” and then, Makoto realized just what Johanna had meant by “parting gift.”

“All right. I’ll keep it.”

Smiling fondly, she pocketed it.

_Thank you, Johanna._

**Author's Note:**

> so yeah, thanks for reading! Again, to recap, big fic tomorrow, announcement of this big project, and more C&D chapters sometime after that! Look forward to it!


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